Singapore univ prepares for trial of glaucoma drug

"Finding the right person with the scientific and technological know-how to help solve a clinical problem or improve the way in which we can treat our patients better is the vital first step to achieving a fruitful, long lasting, research collaboration," Dr Wong said. "Prof Venkatraman and I work well together as a team to bring cutting edge technological solutions to the clinic." Dr Wong who is a recipient of the Clinician Scientist Award from the Ministry of Health, has developed, together with Prof Venkatraman, a novel glaucoma surgical implant and a sustained drug delivery gel for combating post-operative scarring following glaucoma surgeries. Both these innovations have shown to improve surgical outcomes in glaucoma from early studies.

The Ocular Therapeutic Engineering Center will have about ten full time scientists. Among its initial projects, which are individually funded by various funding sources and agencies, include an implantable device which can constantly monitor the pressure changes within the eye in real time.

The center is also looking into developing a novel nano-carrier system that will be able to deliver drugs for a sustained period of time, to the back of the eye, the retina, when injected in the front of the eye. Currently, only regular painful and invasive injections directly into the back of eye can deliver drugs to treat retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.